Download Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (Windows)

Vintage Review

The inevitable problem with insanely popular and over-hyped movies is that everyone -- and their dog -- feel it is their sworn duty to tell the rest of the world what their opinion is of it. Regardless of if they have a valid point to make or if their audience is even interested. This applies to anyone; a vagrant on the streets, the employee behind the counter when all you're trying to (some would say, foolishly) acquire is a Big Mac, or the star contributor of Garden Peas Weekly (the definitive weekly news source in the world of garden peas).

With this in mind, I, of course, won't be burdening you with yet another amateur critique of the movie that generated a few squillion dollars from merchandising before it even opened in the US. I won't tell you that I thought the movie was very well done, worth seeing for the special effects alone, kept the fun and fairy tale spirit of Star Wars and that although it had a number of inconsistencies with the first trilogy, the 'pro' critics have been far too harsh on it.

No. You can count on me. Instead, I'm reviewing the game version of Star Wars: Episode One: The Phantom Menace (a.k.a. "Star Wars: How Many Colons Do We Need, Anyway: A Good Few, At Least", or, for review purposes, TPM). TPM is actually one of a line of LucasArts' new Episode One-based games. Also released simultaneously with the movie opening was the pure racing title, Racer (based on the Podracing scenes) and the children's game, The Gungan Frontier (based on the fact that Jar Jar Binks is supposedly only funny to kids or adults still in touch with their inner child).

TPM is classified as an action-adventure, and puts you in the role of various heroes from the movie, where you get to act out many of the scenarios that the character's faced, plus a large helping of new ones we supposedly didn't get to see. After being treated to the infamous Star Wars text-scrolling introduction (identically worded to the movie), a short cutscene follows that again mirrors the film, however, it's presented in computer-rendered 3D -- complete with 3D actors - instead of movie footage (which is ironic, considering the movie apparently featured only one, second-long shot where there was no CGI visible!). Once completed, you're placed in control of the young Jedi Knight-wannabe Obi-Wan Kenobi, preparing to repel the surprise attack that was sprung on himself and Qui-Gon Jinn by the Trade Federation.

For those unaware of the plot -- and Americans, do remember your European cousins are still awaiting the movie's release (well, those who haven't naughtily sneaked themselves a pirated copy) -- the following is a brief synopsis. I'll obviously tread carefully, but if you're really a die-hard fanatic who wants to learn nothing of the plot before seeing the film, then you're probably better off not reading further; and certainly, skip buying the game altogether for now!

Long before the evil Empire, the galaxy was run by the Galactic Republic, a governing body based on democracy that, for the most part, allowed the different systems to live together in peace. Just recently, they began a taxation on trade routes which didn't please the Trade Federation, an organization formed to protect trader's rights. In a plan to oppose the taxation, the Federation has placed a trade blockade on a small, peaceful planet called Naboo. The Chancellor of the Republic has sent two Jedi Knights to begin negotiations -- which is where you come in. The game depicts the events that follow, including the Jedi's escaping the Federation-invaded Naboo with the Queen, their becoming stranded on the oddly significant planet of Tatooine and meeting Anakin Skywalker (the future Darth Vader), the journey to Coruscant to face the Senate, and the return to Naboo to help the Queen retake rightful control of the planet.

TPM is a 3D game played from a perspective not implemented too often these days -- high above and slightly behind the hero, almost a "top-down" style. This viewpoint was abandoned many years ago in the PC action genre, around the time that the first-person 3D shooter was born. Some companies have attempted to revitalize this perspective recently, with titles like Take No Prisoners and MageSlayers - both were fun titles but ultimately felt less immersive compared to the ever-increasing quality of the first-person games. So does it work with The Phantom Menace? Well, sure, but as with those aforementioned games, the perspective just seems unnecessary. It provides an unusual viewpoint, but not particularly attractive or clever; so why use it? At times, it becomes downright infuriating being restricted to seeing only a few meters in front of you, and no options are provided to adjust it. A simple zoom option would have helped, even.

But, complaints aside, the view isn't severely detrimental to the gameplay, and the levels have obviously been designed to correspond to the view. Talking of gameplay, TPM incorporates a large mix of both action and adventure-oriented styles. Throughout the game, you're usually running around, flipping switches, jumping between platforms, pushing blocks, collecting health powerups and weapons, and generally chopping many number of battle droids in half. However, there's a break from these conventional arcade characteristics with gameplay elements like conversation with branching dialogue trees and a few inventory-based puzzles. These are most apparent on the Tatooine level, where there's very little combat, and most of the time is spent running around the market streets, bartering for ship parts and divulging on little sub-plots to help local residents.

Throughout the game, you will control four characters directly -- the two Jedi, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, and the Queen's guard, Captain Panaka, as well as the Queen herself. As the Jedi, you have several extra moves available to you, including a number of flips and a "Force Push" power (which depletes quickly, but regenerates), which is used to fling back objects and attackers. It's also handy when you don't want to hurt someone, but need to get them out of the way - as humorous as that sounds, it is actually useful in the game (in real life, it would be particularly useful at theme parks during the peak time of year). For example, when in the Gungan city (Jar Jar Binks' home), you need to get past several guards, but since they're not technically 'bad guys,' you don't want to kill them, just shove them off to the side.

You also have the option to use your lightsaber when controlling the Jedi, which, as expected, can be used to both deflect laser fire and cause great damage to an opponent. Unfortunately, control of the saber is very simplistic and clumsy. Although you have a few 'special' moves at your disposal, such as the overhead attack or the spin attack, mostly you just hold down the attack button and let the game do all the work. Also, undoubtedly for game balance reasons, the lightsaber in the player's hands isn't quite as effective as the movie hero's counterparts. Even though approximately 80% of attempted laser deflections are successful (although this does also depends on how many lasers are being fired at you simultaneously), I'd estimate only 10% of those ever deflect back directly at their target. This is obviously to encourage you to play with the other weapons, which include the standard Star Wars variety of blasters, thermal detonators, as well as the funky Gungan Energy Balls.

As the levels progress, you're continually given different types of objectives to complete. Escaping from the Trade Federation ship on the first level is pretty much your standard 'run-shoot-and-find-exit' affair. In the swamps of Naboo, again you're trying to "find the exit," although the game objective is to rendezvous with Qui-Gon (being aided by Mr. Binks, who's always ten steps ahead taunting, "yousa wery slow Jedi!" The game then eases off the action when you reach the city of Otah Gunga, and are sent to rescue Jar Jar from imprisonment -- this is one example of where the game's plot deviates somewhat from the movie (on the big screen, the Jedi aren't forced to run around the city trying to break Jar Jar out of jail). Another example is on Coruscant, where the Jedi desist from escorting the Queen as soon as they land on the planet. In the film, it becomes apparent that she is safe from harm, but in the game, it is up to you as Captain Panaka to protect her from bounty hunter's attack. On escort missions like this, the Queen will often wait in a pre-designated spot and by talking to her, you have the option to order her to stay put or move on -- this adds a small strategy element.

Much of the movie has been translated into the 3D game world, including all of the characters, even the less significant ones, such as the Tusken Raiders or Jabba the Hutt (who you can end up performing for if you're desperate for money). Oddly, however, some characters who played a substantially more crucial role, like Anakin Skywalker and Jar Jar Binks, are barely featured in the game at all. While several lines of dialogue are copied verbatim from the film, many are also excluded altogether, which will probably leave a player who has yet to see the movie feeling very lost. The objective of the current level is always clear, but the continuing plot is often revealed in a disjointed and confusing manner. This essentially means I'd really only recommend this game to people who have seen the movie first.

Where visuals are concerned, The Phantom Menace is well presented, but not the best that we've seen in the past year. Running with a 3D accelerator only, the backdrops can be truly beautiful at times and are probably the most graphically impressive part of the game. Characters are much less detailed, however, created with few polygons and thus looked rather jagged. Effects are above average, with nice explosions, colored lighting, and the lightsabers themselves do their movie counterparts proud. Overall the graphic engine has been competently produced, but doesn't break or even fully reach any current technical boundaries -- its development was no doubt limited by the PlayStation version (a platform that has been long superseded in capabilities by PC accelerated games), which benefited from a simultaneous release. The menu interface and gameplay in general are actually very console-like in nature; we should probably be thankful that the 'save anywhere' feature, often omitted in console ports much to gamers' disgust, did end up in the PC version.

TPM excels in the audio department, which is no unusual feat for LucasArts. Every sound effect complements that of the movie perfectly, and the music, which has proved just as important where Star Wars is concerned, is almost as thrilling as the original trilogy's. LucasArts' budget has proved to be not quite a limitless as its movie studio, Lucasfilm, so the voice acting isn't provided by the big name actors. The sound-alikes perform a worthy job, though, imitating Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman et al, and some of the movie's original cast does, in fact, make it over to the game. Actors Jake Lloyd playing Anakin Skywalker, Ahmed Best playing Jar Jar Binks and Andrew Secombe playing the obsessive gambler Watto all offer their voice talents in the game.

AI of the non-player characters is often considered an important factor in action titles, so it wouldn't be amiss to comment on it here. I do have a few complaints. Firstly, pathfinding. Considering a number of missions involve escorting and following other characters, it's a shame a bit more work wasn't put into their ability to find a simple path around an object. Most noticeably, the Queen escort missions can become moderately annoying when the Queen gets lost miles behind because you didn't give her a clear line of sight. This means that you are forced to halt at every corner, because she always follows a straight line towards you, regardless of the many walls in her way.

Enemies are also generally rather unintelligent (although, where the battle droids are concerned, this fits very accurately with the movie). Once your character is sighted, droids will tend to stand fast and just shoot, shoot, shoot. Other humanoid characters have different personalities -- some will attempt to mug you, but a little Jedi Mind Trick can persuade them otherwise. Around the bars, there are some aliens who will happily give you a hard shove just because they feel like it. Some characters react to whether your weapon is holstered or not. One particularly sorry moment, however, comes when you're on Coruscant and have just been attacked by bounty hunters. You escape to the tourist center, but when you inform the employee in charge that you're under attack, he says you must be mistaken; fair enough, except that his frame of mind fails to change even when the thugs enter the tourist center and are discharging their weapons in front of his eyes. The poor fellow can even be terminated, and his last breath maintains that there's no danger here.

As described earlier in the review, I'm also somewhat discontent with the implementation of the lightsaber. The simplicity makes for some very uninteresting battles, especially with "boss creatures" (a throwback to the games of olde times that I've never really been fond of). The lightsaber duels are undoubtedly the highlight of the movie, so it's unfortunate there's nothing so spectacular about them in the game. With the lack of moves, battles with the Darth Maul and other bosses are a matter of jumping forward, swiping and jumping back in an endless loop until someone's health has been depleted first. There's very little skill involved, and timing is barely relevant. It's not a wonder that in the last level, when you're separated with Qui-Gon in the final duel with Darth Maul (as Obi-Wan was in the movie), the real challenge of the level is just to reach the two combatants. The eventual face-off with Maul is comparatively easy.

Conclusion

There's quite a bit to criticize about the The Phantom Menace, however, I'm still left feeling rather satisfied with the overall experience (that actually applies to both the game and movie). The game basically focuses on a number of action scenes from the movie and develops them into somewhat traditional levels for an action-adventure game. One of the more prominent flaws of the game is how much of the plot is skipped because of its concentration on the action only, which makes it incredibly tough to follow for those who haven't seen the film (Anakin's presence with the Force is downplayed, Darth Sidious is completely absent, there's no mention of the newly-introduced midi-chlorians, to name a few missing elements). But at the same time, for those who have watched the film, this game complements it well, as it gives the player an opportunity to participate in all the excitement which they have just witnessed, and even do a few things differently. Or find entirely new experiences like exploring the outlaw underworld of Coruscant or entering Jabba's palace.

Without the Star Wars theme, TPM as a game would most likely get lost in the crowd, but that's not to say it doesn't have a healthy helping of redeeming features. It retains a good deal more depth than many action games, and the ability to talk with characters and divulge on different conversation threads (even though many dialogue choices end with the same result) is a nice bonus. The puzzles aren't overwhelmingly taxing, but some may stump even the hardened gamers for a little while. It's obvious that TPM was produced to satisfy the largest audience possible, since Star Wars will obviously bring in a slew of casual gamers, and the game will definitely feel much more at home in the console market. Still, with a recipe for disaster like that, LucasArts' nevertheless performed an admirable job and came up with a game to please both casual and hardcore gamers alike, even if the latter are unlikely to go completely barmy over it.

Now... about Episode Two... can anyone confirm the rumor that the movie will be X-rated due to a controversial scene involving the adult Anakin, Queen Amidala and a seriously disturbed Wookie...?

Review By GamesDomain